New York Knicks fans waited a long time for 2011. It had been seven years since New York last made the NBA playoffs, and though they were swept by the Boston Celtics in four games, excitement returned to Madison Square Garden this year.

It started with the signing of Amar’e Stoudemire in July of 2010. Stoudemire brought instant credibility and a whole lot of offense to a team desperately in need of both. The Knicks still didn’t play defense and they were clearly not in the same league as the upper echelon teams, but on opening night – a 98-93 win over the Raptors – it was clear that this was the beginning of a new era of Knicks basketball. New York finished the season 42-40, but not before some memorable moments took place.

Here are the New York Knicks’ top five moments of 2011:

No. 5: Spurs at Knicks, January 4, 2011 – The modern-day Knicks are not known for their defense, but on this particular night it was their opponent’s defensive shortcomings that stood out. New York outscored San Antonio 128-115, prompting Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich to bench his starters late in the fourth quarter. New York scored 72 points in the first half against a Spurs team that entered the game with a league-best 29-4 record. For the Knicks, Wilson Chandler scored a season-high 31 points and Stoudemire and Raymond Felton added 28 points apiece. Like old times, the Garden was rocking.

No. 4: Knicks at Heat, February 27, 2011 – Who says this doesn’t play any defense? It was a defensive play – maybe the most memorable play of the season for New York – that propelled the Knicks to a 91-86 victory over the Miami Heat. With seven seconds remaining, Stoudemire blocked LeBron James’ layup attempt to protect a one-point lead. Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds in his third game in a Knick uniform. New York fell behind by 15 in the first half and ended the game on a 13-2 run. But it was Stoudemire’s heroics that had people talking.

No. 3: Heat at Knicks, January 27, 2011 – Nothing seems to make NBA fans (except for those who root for the Heat) happier than seeing LeBron James fail. They had plenty of opportunity to celebrate on this night at the Garden. James shot 7-for-24 from the floor and finished with 24 points, a below-average performance for King James. The Knicks hadn’t beaten a LeBron James team since 2007. With TNT broadcasting from the Garden for the first time in five years, there was no better time to end that streak. The Knicks did just that with a 93-88 win after outscoring Miami 29-15 in the fourth quarter.

No. 2: Knicks Return to the Playoffs – Sweep or no sweep, what mattered was that the Knicks were back in the playoffs. Not since 2004 had they been there. For too many seasons, the Knicks were mediocre at best, with no real hope to get out from under the salary cap and begin the rebuilding process. Then came the summer of 2010 and the signing of Stoudemire, February 2011 with the trade for Carmelo Anthony, and then suddenly, the Knicks were in the playoffs where they went up against the Celtics. Boston was the better team and it showed. The Knicks lost the first two in Boston and the next two at home. They didn’t go down easy, but injuries to Stoudemire and Chauncey Billups didn’t help their chances against a team that even Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni admitted was the better squad. The franchise has now lost ten straight playoff games, but finally getting back to the playoffs seemed to matter most.

No 1: Carmelo Anthony Comes Home – The Knicks didn’t land James seven months earlier, but the team thought they got the next best thing when the Brooklyn-born Anthony joined them in a trade that sent Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler and Timofey Mozgov, along with some cash and draft picks, to the Denver Nuggets. (The Knicks also picked up Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman and Anthony Carter in the deal.) Anthony received a 3-year, $65 million extension that made New York his home for the foreseeable future. On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, he scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his Knicks debut at the Garden, hitting big shots down the stretch of a 114-108 win over the Bucks. It was Melo Mania the rest of the way.

Charles Costello is a lifelong Knicks fan who was a beat reporter assigned to cover the team during the 1997-98 season.

Sources

Spurs at Knicks: AP via Yahoo! Sports

Knicks at Heat: AP via Yahoo! Sports

Heat at Knicks: AP via Yahoo! Sports

Knicks Return to Playoffs: New York Daily News

Anthony Comes Home: New York Daily News

Video: YouTube

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Rumours of the New York Knicks wanting to create their own “Big Three” have long been reported, but under cover of the NBA lockout, Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony was able to officially give voice to them.

With a tampering gag order lifted during the lockout, Anthony told the New York Post he would be thrilled if New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul joined him and Amar’e Stoudemire in New York when he becomes a free agent in 2012.

“If it works out and he comes here and they allow him to come here, you’ll see a smile from ear to ear,” Anthony said. “It’s not just me. It’s everybody (in New York). If he decides to leave New Orleans and goes somewhere else, they’ll be feeling the same way I’m feeling.”

The thought of Paul joining Anthony and Stoudemire first came at Anthony’s wedding in 2010, when Paul made a toast that included a goal of the three players uniting in New York.

Anthony and Paul have since teamed up many times in exhibitions and might do so again in a New York area game.

“It’s fun (playing with Paul),” Anthony told the Post. “He’s such a competitor, even in games we play now. He wants the games to be NBA games — the intensity level. He wants everybody to go out and compete. It’s something I’ve really enjoyed.”

NEW YORK – Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire defiantly stood his ground against NBA commissioner David Stern on Friday, proclaiming the NBA Players Association isn’t “budging” from its 53 percent revenue split offer and openly questioning if the NBA lockout would be resolved Tuesday when owners and players are scheduled to meet with a federal mediator.

Judging by his comments, Stern and the owners are going to have to accept the players’ offer of a 53-47 percent split of basketball-related income for a deal to be reached on that day. And no threat by Stern of additional game cancellations is going to change their position.

“We’ve already dropped from 57 [percent] to 53,” Stoudemire said of the players’ offer to lower their BRI take from the previous collective bargaining agreement. “I think 53 is fair for both sides. Right now we’re not budging. We’re at 53, and that’s where we stand.”

Stoudemire, at the Duane Reade on Wall Street in downtown Manhattan to launch Sheets Energy Strips on Friday, didn’t shy away from the reality facing him and the rest of the NBA.

With the lockout more than 100 days old, the first two weeks of the regular season already canceled and the threat of more cancellations looming, he knows the time to get a deal done and save the season is slipping away.

But Stoudemire didn’t sound overly optimistic that a new collective bargaining agreement would be reached Tuesday – the latest do-or-die date Stern has set for the NBA to cancel more games, including the Knicks’ Christmas Day showdown against the Celtics, if a deal isn’t reached – even though mediator George Cohen would be involved for the first time.

“I just don’t know what’s going to happen with this lockout,” Stoudemire said.

“My gut feeling is it gets resolved, but you never know. We’ve went into a few meetings thinking that [the lockout] was going to be resolved sooner than later, and it didn’t pan out that way. So we have to wait and see.”

While they wait, Stoudemire thinks players who are rehabbing from injuries – like himself – are being hurt by the rules of the lockout.

The NBA prohibits players from communicating with team doctors (or any personnel) during the lockout and Stoudemire thinks that could lead to the recovering players re-injuring themselves when, and if, the season starts.

“You have so many guys who are trying to rehab from injuries and are trying to figure out how to approach their workouts and they have no idea,” Stoudemire said.

“We’re pretty much stuck on our own. Once the season does [start] and guys get hurt within the first few weeks, well hey, you guys [the NBA] wouldn’t let us talk to our physicians, so in the long haul the team loses from that.”

As for the back injury Stoudemire suffered before Game 2 of the Knicks’ first-round playoff series against Boston last April, he said it was healed and he would be ready to play if the season started today. But he did admit his back still gets “tight” after long workouts.

“I’m working out five or six hours a day, sometimes twice a day,” Stoudemire said. “I’m ready to go. My back’s good. It gets a little bit tight after a while. But I’m ready.”

Ready for what, even he doesn’t know.

It remains unclear what will happen with the NBA lockout, but New York Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire(notes) has an idea of what the players can do if it drags on: start their own league.

“If we don’t go to Europe then let’s start our own league,” Stoudemire said, HoopsWorld reports. “That’s how I see it. It’s very serious. Yeah. It’s very, very serious. It’s a matter of us coming up with a plan, blueprint and putting it together. So we’ll see how this lockout goes. If it goes one or two years, then we got to start our own league.”

When pressed for details, the six-time All-Star and 2003 Rookie of the Year, said that the players are focused on figuring out a way to end the lockout. “But if it doesn’t happen, what are we going to do? We can’t just sit around and not do anything,” he said, according to the site.

If a season does get underway, the 28-year-old Stoudemire is planning a training camp for his Knicks teammates.

Let the rumors come to you. Follow Scoop du Jour on Twitter or Facebook.

Source: HoopsWorld

Related: New York Knicks

NEW YORK — New York Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire said Tuesday night if the NBA lockout wipes out the season, he believes the players will form their own league instead of trying to find a team in Europe.

“If we don’t go to Europe, we’re going to start our own league, that’s how I see it,” Stoudemire said. “It’s very serious. It’s a matter of us strategically coming up with a plan, a blueprint and putting it together. So we’ll see how this lockout goes. If it goes one or two years, we’ve got to start our own league.”

Stoudemire declined to say if there was financial backing in place.

“We want to play NBA basketball but if it doesn’t happen, what are we going to do?” he said. “We can’t just sit around and not do anything. We’ve got to figure out ways now to play basketball at a high level against top competition and have fun doing it, so that’s the next step.”

Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony took part in the South Florida Classic at Florida International University last Saturday — a quasi-NBA All-Star Game that included nine All-Stars. Anthony and Stoudemire are planning an NBA All-Star-fest in mid-November for New York.

Stoudemire says for now, he has ignored all inquiries from European teams.

“I haven’t entertained it yet, but as this lockout continues, I may entertain it more and more,” he said.

Read more: NEW YORK POST